Job Says Friends Are Sorry Comforters
16 Then Job answered,
2 “I have heard many such things;
(A)Sorry comforters are you all.
3 “Is there no limit to (B)windy words?
Or what plagues you that you answer?
4 “I too could speak like you,
If I were in your place.
I could compose words against you
And (C)shake my head at you.
5 “I could strengthen you with my mouth,
And the solace of my lips could lessen your pain.
Job Says God Shattered Him
6 “If I speak, (D)my pain is not lessened,
And if I hold back, what has left me?
7 “But now He has (E)exhausted me;
You have laid (F)waste all my company.
8 “You have shriveled me up,
(G)It has become a witness;
And my (H)leanness rises up against me,
It testifies to my face.
9 “His anger has (I)torn me and hunted me down,
He has (J)gnashed at me with His teeth;
My (K)adversary glares at me.
10 “They have (L)gaped at me with their mouth,
They have (M)slapped me on the cheek with contempt;
They have (N)massed themselves against me.
11 “God hands me over to ruffians
And tosses me into the hands of the wicked.
12 “I was at ease, but (O)He shattered me,
And He has grasped me by the neck and shaken me to pieces;
He has also set me up as His (P)target.
13 “His (Q)arrows surround me.
Without mercy He splits my kidneys open;
He pours out (R)my gall on the ground.
14 “He (S)breaks through me with breach after breach;
He (T)runs at me like a warrior.
15 “I have sewed (U)sackcloth over my skin
And (V)thrust my horn in the dust.
16 “My face is flushed from (W)weeping,
(X)And deep darkness is on my eyelids,
17 Although there is no (Y)violence in my hands,
And (Z)my prayer is pure.
18 “O earth, do not cover my blood,
And let there be no resting place for my cry.
19 “Even now, behold, (AA)my witness is in heaven,
And my advocate is (AB)on high.
20 “My friends are my scoffers;
(AC)My eye weeps to God.
21 “O that a man might plead with God
As a man with his neighbor!
22 “For when a few years are past,
I shall go the way (AD)of no return.
Footnotes
- Job 16:1
- Job 16:2
- Job 16:4
- Job 16:9
- Job 16:9
- Job 16:10
- Job 16:19
- Job 16:20
Cross references
- Job 16:2 : Job 13:4; 21:34
- Job 16:3 : Job 6:26
- Job 16:4 : Ps 22:7; 109:25; Zeph 2:15; Matt 27:39
- Job 16:6 : Job 9:27, 28
- Job 16:7 : Job 7:3
- Job 16:7 : Job 16:20; 19:13-15
- Job 16:8 : Job 10:17
- Job 16:8 : Job 19:20; Ps 109:24
- Job 16:9 : Job 19:11; Hos 6:1
- Job 16:9 : Ps 35:16; Lam 2:16; Acts 7:54
- Job 16:9 : Job 13:24; 33:10
- Job 16:10 : Ps 22:13
- Job 16:10 : Is 50:6; Lam 3:30; Acts 23:2
- Job 16:10 : Job 30:12; Ps 35:15
- Job 16:12 : Job 9:17
- Job 16:12 : Job 7:20; Lam 3:12
- Job 16:13 : Job 6:4; 19:12; 25:3
- Job 16:13 : Job 20:25
- Job 16:14 : Job 9:17
- Job 16:14 : Joel 2:7
- Job 16:15 : Gen 37:34; Ps 69:11
- Job 16:15 : Ps 7:5
- Job 16:16 : Job 16:20
- Job 16:16 : Job 24:17
- Job 16:17 : Is 59:6; Jon 3:8
- Job 16:17 : Job 27:4
- Job 16:19 : Gen 31:50; Job 19:25-27; Rom 1:9; Phil 1:8; 1 Thess 2:5
- Job 16:19 : Job 31:2
- Job 16:20 : Job 17:7
- Job 16:22 : Job 3:13
